House Majority Whip Tom DeLay, R-Texas, and Rep. John R. Kasich, R-Ohio, separately criticized journalists for asking Bush if he had used cocaine in the past. ''There's no evidence. All it is is rumors being pushed by his political opponents,'' DeLay said on ''Fox News Sunday.''

''I think legitimate journalists can ask questions if there are charges or if there is evidence that there is something wrong. But to be fishing, and running around asking questions and creating this whole aura that there's something sinister in someone's background, I just don't think it's responsible or legitimate,'' DeLay said.

Kasich, who abandoned his bid for the GOP nomination on July 14 and is backing Bush, urged a new ''code of ethics'' for journalists. ''Sometimes I wonder if they're as worried about discovering the truth as they are about boosting ratings,'' he said on NBC's ''Meet the Press.''

''If you take a look at this story, every one of the cable stations just leads with this story, it becomes sensationalized.''

Another Bush supporter, Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge, R, said on the Fox program: ''Good solid investigative reporters have spent a great deal of time ... trying to uncover something. And I think the point is that there is nothing there.''

Bush had refused to answer any questions about rumors, unsupported by evidence, that he had taken drugs as a young man. But last week he faced renewed pressure after he agreed to respond to a query from the Dallas Morning News over whether he could meet standard FBI clearance questions about past drug use, and later indicated he had not taken drugs for at least the last 25 years.

Sunday, Gary Bauer and Utah Sen. Orrin G. Hatch, both challenging Bush for the Republican nomination, repeated calls for the Texas governor to give full answers about any previous illegal drug use. Their view was supported by 1984 Democratic vice presidential nominee Geraldine A. Ferraro, and by New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson, R, who has admitted once taking marijuana and cocaine.

Bauer told Fox: ''I think anything that involves a felony, I don't see how you're going to be able to get away from it. ... These are important questions. It does go to law enforcement. I don't think we can say to our kids, 'Look, this is important and we're serious about it' and then be sort of coy when it comes to a question about it.''

Hatch, on NBC, said his advice was to ''just answer the darned question and get rid of it.'' He added: ''Most of the American people are forgiving.''